Tim Tebow Meets the Press

Tim Tebow, the wildly popular new Jets backup quarterback, arrived in New York last Thursday. He spent the weekend taking in the town. He saw “Wicked” (“It was really good”). He dined at Scarpetta, in the meatpacking district, and gave a couple celebrating their engagement his blessing.

It wasn’t until today, though, that Tebow faced what could end up being his biggest challenge in New York: the press. This afternoon, for the first time in his Jets career, he met hundreds of members of the media at the team’s training center in New Jersey. There was no formal introduction, no ritual presentation of a green-and-white jersey. The Jets’ brass (owner Woody Johnson, general manager Mike Tannenbaum, and head coach Rex Ryan) is in West Palm Beach for the N.F.L. owners’ meeting. Still, it may have been the most heavily covered press conference ever for a player who is, theoretically, only a backup.

For a relatively young quarterback, Tebow is a veteran at handling the press. He says a lot without saying much at all. The takeaway from thirty minutes of talking can be narrowed down to a few key words and phrases. How does he feel about being a Jet? “Excited.” (By one early count, he used this word forty-four times over the course of the press conference.) What does he think about the Denver Broncos, the team that unceremoniously dumped him? They were very “gracious.” Why did he choose the Jets over his home-town Jacksonville Jaguars? He knows the coaching staff better, and he thought it looked “fun” after watching HBO’s “Hard Knocks”—though, of course, he would’ve loved to play for the Jaguars, too. How will he get along with Mark Sanchez, the Jets’ starting quarterback, who has remained conspicuously silent over the past week? They have a “great relationship.” They met at the ESPY Awards. They text. They did not, however, see “Wicked” together.

What the gathered reporters did not hear, thanks to all the polite obfuscation, was anything about the question they really wanted answered: how long until, as Ben McGrath put it in this week’s magazine, Tebow goes rogue?

The Jets have serious “football” plans for Tebow, despite the cries of “publicity stunt” from the wings. Ryan declared over the weekend that he could envision Tebow taking up to twenty snaps per game, likely in offensive coördinator Tony Sparano’s favored “wildcat” formation. Ryan doesn’t want the latest piece of the Jets’ puzzle on the sidelines with a clipboard, like most backups. Tebow will get his fair share of action on the field, and Ryan suggested that it could even be in a position other than quarterback.

What’s less clear is how Tebow envisions his future with the Jets. We’re well aware that he’s thrilled to be in the Big Apple. But will he be content as second fiddle? In typical Tebow fashion, he sounded all the right “team-first” notes. “Hopefully, by me being here we can be a little better, and I can add something to this football team,” he said. How exciting.